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Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Common Ground-Dove in New Jersey

Common Ground-Dove, adult male

Evidently a Common Ground-Dove has been found, yesterday, in New Jersey. It was photographed by Bob Abrams and the ID confirmed by Michael O'Brien. There's only one accepted record for the state, although it's the third time it has been recorded for the state. There was a lost specimen from 1858 and a record from Mary Gustafson who saw it in 1984.Here are my photos from Sanibel Island, FL of this cute species.

Common Ground-Dove, adult female

Common-Ground Doves are found in the lower Southeast, TX, and parts of the Southwest and southern CA. So this is a bird quite out of it's usual range, when in New Jersey. There are also records of it appearing in the middle of the country and the Southeast coast.

Male and female resting, raised wings

The wings have extensive rufous on them, visible when raised or in flight, and are quite dramatic. When walking around, this bird looks like a plain little dove, length is 6.5 inches, much smaller than a Mourning Dove at 12 inches. We had Common Ground-Doves regularly visit our bird feeders when we lived in Florida. They have an ascending, very repeated, "wah-up" call.Who knows where this bird went when it left NJ, So check your feeders and likely field habitats. Maybe you'll find one.

Pretty neat sighting. We have seen them regularly in Florida on Manasota Key where we go every winter. However, recent construction and habitat disturbance in the state park (where we birdwatch) has greatly decreased their numbers. Last February we didn't see any. But, hopefully they'll be back this year.

Don and Lillian Stokes

Don and Lillian Stokes

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